This result was controversial and further reports about the finalists from
the S&H team of observers follow.

The London World Piano Competition 2000 reconsidered

This competition had what must have been an exciting, surprise finish on
29 April, with an outsider coming up from behind to win at the tape. Several
reviewers from the S&Hteam
(none of whom had heard the eventual victor in earlier stages) were present
for the 'Grand Final' and their reports are published below.

Their disagreements probably reflect those of the jurors, whose criteria
and marking systems remain secret. Wen-Yu Shen, the tiny little 13 yr. old
Chinese boy who had entranced me in his semi-final recital, joined the
prizewinners on the platform to receive one of the educational scholarship
awards for younger participants who show outstanding potential. People present
were incredulous that he had been prepared to play Rachmaninoff No 3.

Theo Wohlfart, an experienced international piano competition watcher, gives
the benefit of his experience in putting the London competition in perspective.
He told me that most other major competitions (including Leeds and the
London String Quartet Competition recently
reviewed by S&H) have an audience
prize in addition to those awarded by the Jury - this reflects the fact that
the ultimate fate of a musician's career depends upon the public as well
as the experts. By all accounts, that would have revealed yet another preference
on this occasion!

Peter Grahame Woolf

The last pianist to be heard in the semi-finals, the Italian Luca Rasca,
provided an imaginitive programme which contrasted two Ligeti Etudes with
Chopin's Op. 10 set, before progressing to the heady world of Ravel's Valses
Nobles et Sentimentales. Whilst Ligeti's Fourth Etude could have benefited
from that final ounce of fantasy, he viewed Chopin's Op. 10 as a whole, the
final C minor (the 'Revolutionary') seeming an inevitable and exciting
conclusion. His sensitivity was most in evidence in his idiomatically-coloured
Ravel. He plays with both controlled power and sensitivity, a (if you'll
pardon the pun) winning combination, and I look forward very much to his
Brahms first on Saturday.

Colin Clarke

World Piano Competition: Grand Final, RFH 29 April 2000

The World Piano Competition reached its climax on Saturday evening with the
concerto final. The three pianists who had been selected were the Italian
Luca Rasca, the Macedonian Simon Trpceski and the Scottish
Martin Cousin, who on the night was too ill to play. He was replaced
by another semi-finalist, the Finnish pianist Antti Siirala, who won!
That the jury made the wrong decision in choosing their eventual winner is
now history.

With two Brahms' Firsts and a Prokofiev Third, it turned out to be an evening
that mixed stunning virtuosity with some profoundly poetic playing. Luca
Rasca, the oldest of the finalists, began with Brahms' titanic D minor
concerto. The first entry of the piano was imperceptibly achieved, and he
played the vast first movement with an aristocratic poise that was almost
Pollini-esque in its conception. The playing was often statuesque, with the
struggle between the torrential chords and more lyrical phrasing subtly drawn.
The weaving together of the F major solo subject was accomplished with refinement
and intimacy. The second movement was poetic and raptly meditative. If he
lost concentration in the Rondo, it did not seriously impair his interpretation.
The final allegro lost some of the fluency he had built up during
the first two movements, but this remained a very empathetic performance.
Perhaps the tensions between the orchestra and soloist were not as dramatic
as they should have been in this most symphonic of concertos, but I was happy
to have heard a performance which was intensely musical. One of Rasca's teachers
was Lazar Berman, a noted interpreter of this concerto. On paper at least,
this gave Rasca a cruel advantage over the Finnish pianist.

Antti Siirala's Brahms First appeared after the interval - a very
different performance. Compared with the tall, elegant Rasca, Siirala is
short and slight, yet the sounds he achieved from the Steinway were staggering.
His was clearly a virtuosic performance, with speeds precariously close to
becoming disastrous. Siirala's wrong notes were scattered liberally, but
I was more concerned about the lack of interaction with Brahms' lyricism
- a problem which seriously undermined this performance. Orchestra and soloist
fired sparks off each other, but is Brahms' D minor really as war-torn as
Siirala perceives it? This was Blitzkrieg stuff, the chords thrown off with
great panache, the thunder more tropical than European. If he had one advantage
over Rasca it was what he did with his fingers before touching the keyboard.
Rasca's hovered nervously above the ivory, but Siirala's just touched the
keys at the right moment. His feet banged the floor, Rasca's remained firmly
rooted. His was by far the more interactive performance, but it seriously
lacked the poetry and lyricism that are also part of this concerto.

Simon Trpceski opted for Prokofiev's virtuoso war-horse. As an example
of pure pianism it was by far the most thrillingly (and accurately)
played concerto of the evening. The overhand playing that figures so prominently
in both the first and last movements was cast off with superb precision,
and the harmonics played on the upper registers of the keyboard were sprung
from transcendental articulation. He could stroke the keyboard like a cat,
or he could race his fingers across the span of the keyboard like a demon.
Of all of the pianists his technique seems the most complete. But there is
more to this concerto than blatant virtuosity, and I was pleased that Trpceski
saw this. Where Prokofiev's writing is spiky, this is precisely the effect
he achieves. In the second movement, he produced playing of a ghostly, almost
cantabile beauty in the andantino variation, with Trpceski masquerading
as lover and acrobat convincingly. The more gymnastic passages were hair-raising.
Like Siirala's Brahms, this was an interactive performance. When Trpceski
was playing the sense of drama was always apparent, and he kept this up in
the orchestral passages by almost conducting the players from the keyboard.
His sense of involvement was undeniable. His ovation suggested he was the
audience choice.

As it was, Rasca's apparent advantage in having Berman as a teacher proved
misplaced. Siirala duly won first prize for his Brahms D minor, a somewhat
shocked Rasca taking the third. The popular Trpceski, to sighs from the audience,
took second. I can now look back on Siirala's Brahms as more imaginative
than my initial impression of his performance suggested but, for his sheer
musicianship, Rasca should have won. I suspect, however, we will be hearing
more of all of these pianists, particularly the exciting Trpceski who promises
much for the future.

Marc Bridle

The so called Grand Final of the fourth triennial World Piano Competition,
London, took place at the Royal Festival Hall on South Bank. What a pretentious
title, implying thereby that London is the centre of the world, which it
certainly is not, not even with regard to piano competitions!

Established in 1991 by the Russian piano teacher Sulamita Aronovsky, to give
the British capital city its own piano competition, this event, still in
its infancy, has to be compared with Leeds, or the former Carl Flesch Violin
Competition, which sadly died quite some years ago and has not been revived
yet, despite lots of efforts. Contrary to all major competitions, where six
finalists compete for the first prize (allowing for occasional withdrawals)
only three out of nine semi-finalists take part in the final of this one.
All competitors have to prepare two concertos out of 21 listed in the competition
repertoire. If they reach the final, the jury will decide which concerto
they will have to play.

On Saturday, something quite astonishing happened. Lady Solti, who hosted
the final in the presence of the competition's Patron, HRH The Prince of
Wales, introduced the finalists Luca Rasca (Italy) Simon Trpceski (Macedonia)
and Martin Cousin (Scotland), only to announce further that Martin Cousin
had withdrawn due to illness and that 'a replacement had been found' in Antti
Siirala (Finland). Did that mean the pianist who, in the opinion of the
distinguished jury, had come fourth? Let us hope this was the case.

The jury consisted of ten eminent international pianists and teachers, as
well as the Chairman, Sulamita Aronovsky, who has the casting vote. (Normally
in major competitions there is an odd number of jurors, and the chairman
should always be non-voting!) It was certainly interesting to ponder how
the jury might judge a competitor whom they had not chosen for the final?
In theory, he could of course win, but that would show the jury's own
vulnerability. In practice, this turned out to be the case and one has to
thank the jury that they were able to overcome their own nature.

This year, I could not find the time to follow all competitors through the
different stages. Therefore, I was unbiased and not able to form my own opinion
beforehand. Of the three finalists, only Antti Siirala, still 20,
who played the Brahms Concerto No.1 in D minor, op 15 after the interval,
left a lasting impression. We had already heard it played under less favourable
circumstances by the Italian Luca Rasca.

Siirala took risks to the extreme, but in contrast to his fellow finalists,
made me listen. He played Brahms in grand manner realising right from the
beginning, realising that his interpretation had to counterbalance a conductor
(the Russian Alexander Vedernikov) who seemed to be more interested in showing
off himself. The London Philharmonic, playing the work for a second time,
was far more assured without the previous balance problems. This pianist
I want to hear again. He is a full-blooded musician with a fascinating sense
for the quality of the sound, be it the purest pp in the second movement
or an extreme ff, where necessary, but never for its own sake and
always with the outmost transparency. In the last movement his tempi were
maybe a little bit too brisk - he gave the impression of a horse that wants
to get home quick and safe. But he never showed any of the many negative
attitudes pianists like to display nowadays; his quiet body posture did not
show any wrong tension nor did his ego take over. He played Brahms with a
passion and urgency I had not heard for quite some time.

Luca Raska (28) from Italy, who came third, could not convince me at all.
His playing sounded distant; he produced a beautiful, but empty tone, always
close to kitsch, and never quite managed to get the essence of this great
piece right. The second prize went to Simon Trpceski (20) from Macedonian,
an incredible technician, who overwhelmed the audience with Prokofiev's 3rd
concerto, a technical bravura piece, but interpreted without the necessary
flair and personality. Vedernikov´s overpowering accompaniment led to
a heavy struggle between soloist and orchestra, quite often in favour of
the orchestra. Only very few pianists are able to let you forget the technical
demands of this concerto and make you listen to its powerful beauty.

Finally one personal thought: what are the distinguished jurors really looking
for, when two of the original finalists are either introvert or raping their
body, the piano and the composer, instead of being devoted to the music,
while somebody not even chosen as a finalist proves to be an outstanding
musician? I am sure Antti Siirala will develop even further and I
wish him lots of good luck - he deserves to be taken seriously as he makes
one listen and discover.

Hans-Theodor Wohlfahrt

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